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Saturday, April 16, 2011

Oldest Man Dies

Walter Breuning in seventh grade, second from left, top row with blue "x", October 1907

On Thursday, April 14 the oldest man in the world, Walter Breuning, died. He was 114 years old. WoW!

He was born in 1896 and lived a very long and full life. He was born into a world that had no electricity and no running water and died in a completely different world.

In an earlier interview, Mr. Breuning (see I called him Mr. Breuning, not Walt) offered the following advice:

• Embrace change, even when the change slaps you in the face. ("Every change is good.")
• Eat two meals a day ("That's all you need.")
• Work as long as you can ("That money's going to come in handy.")
• Help others ("The more you do for others, the better shape you're in.")

Then there's the hardest part. It's a lesson Breuning said he learned from his grandfather: Accept death. "We're going to die. Some people are scared of dying. Never be afraid to die. Because you're born to die," he said.